Babyteeth (2019)
6/10
Babyteeth
29 April 2021
Warning: Spoilers
I think I watched Mark Kermode review this Australian film for the BBC News, it sounded like it would be good, and the director Shannon Murphy (Killing Eve) was nominated at the BAFTAs, so I was looking forward to it. Basically, sixteen-year-old schoolgirl Milla Finlay (Little Women's Eliza Scanlen) has recently been diagnosed with cancer. One day, heading home from school, she meets twenty-three-year-old Moses (Toby Wallace), a small-time drug dealer, at a train station. They have a conversation, and he asks her for money to catch a train, but he changes his mind, and they spend time together. Milla quickly develops a crush on Moses and introduces him to her parents, musician Anna (Essie Davis) and psychiatrist Henry (Ben Mendelsohn). Milla's parents are uncomfortable with Moses, due to the age difference, and the signs that he is a drug user. But due to Milla's illness they are permissive. Some time later, Anna wakes up during the night and finds Moses trying to rob the family for prescription drugs. Milla and Henry wake up and are alerted to the situation, Henry wants to call the police, but Milla pleads for them not to. Anna notices how much happier Milla is with Moses but still disapproves. The following day, Anna warns Moses to stay away from her daughter. Moses continues to visit Milla at school. Milla tracks Moses down and they go to a party together one night. But Moses abandons her, and she becomes weakened. Her distraught parents find her and take her to the hospital. Aware that they are unable to stop the relationship between Milla and Moses, Henry and Anna come to accept it. Having lost her hair to chemotherapy, and wanting a change of look, Milla starts wearing wigs, including coloured ones, and finds a new sense of fashion. When Milla gets ill at home, Anna realises that Moses has taken her medication. Milla becomes angered, believing that Moses is using her for her father's access to drugs and throws him out. Later, Henry tracks Moses down and asks him to come live with the family, promising him access to drugs if he continues to make Milla happy. For a while, the family and Moses almost peacefully until Milla discovers her father is supplying Moses with drugs. She is angered again and asks Moses to leave. He eventually comes back and goes through withdrawal and recovery to stay sober. After Milla celebrates a happy seventeenth birthday party, she reveals to Moses that she is in constant pain and knows she does not have much longer. She begs Moses to kill her, using a pillow to suffocate her, they try but he cannot do it and Milla stops him during the process. Following this, they calm themselves and have sex for the first time. The following day, Anna and Henry realise that Milla had sex for the first time. When Anna goes to take Milla breakfast in bed, she instead discovers she has died during the night. In a flashback, Henry remembers a day with Milla at the beach. She tells him she is at peace with dying and asks him to take care of Moses when she is gone. Henry, in turn, promises that he and Anna will be okay when she dies. Also starring Michelle Lotters as Scarlett, Zach Grech as Isaac, and Georgina Symes as Polly. It should be mentioned that the meaning behind the title is because it opens with a baby tooth dropping in a glass of water, and the lead character later has a baby tooth fall out following a tense moment. Scanlen gives an authentic performance as the girl on the cusp of womanhood who cannot help her feelings for a wrong 'un, Wallace is alright as the boyfriend, and Davis and Mendelsohn are interesting as the parents. It is familiar story involving cancer and the turmoil it causes for a family, and the petty criminal boyfriend adds to the dysfunctional situation, it may be predictable in moments, but it is absorbing, a worthwhile comedy-drama. Good!
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